Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) Track 17 from Nimrod Released 1997Green Day has played this song live 523 time(s).

Lyrics

Another turning point
A fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist
Directs you where to go
So make the best of this test
And don't ask why
It's not a question
But a lesson learned in time

It's something unpredictable
But in the end it's right
I hope you had the time of your life

So take the photographs
And still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf of good health and good time
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
For what it's worth
It was worth all the while
It's something unpredictable
But in the end it's right
I hope you had the time of your life.....

It's something unpredictable
But in the end it's right
I hope you had the time of your life.....

It's something unpredictable
But in the end it's right
I hope you had the time of your life.....

Song Meaning

"'Time of Your Life' was a drastic change for us to record. We knew that there were going to be some people that weren't going to like it, because it's not a "1-2-3-4, let's go!" punk-rock tune." -- Billie Joe

"This is a real beautiful song, who cares what people think? So we just went for it. Long term thinking, you know? Punk is not just the sound, the music. Punk is a lifestyle. We're just as much punk as we used to be. Putting this song on the record was the most 'punk' thing we could do!" -- Mike Dirnt

Widely thought of as a celebratory or memorial tune, this song is just the opposite. It was written as a bittersweet breakup song, marking the forced end of a relationship. The narrator knows he can't go on with this other person, and has no other way to express this other than to come clean and say it. While he is reminiscent of the past memories he has with this person, he knows he can't carry this person with him into his future.